Snook are a long, slim little barra-looking predator found around southern and south-eastern Australia. They are quick, aggressive and great fun on light gear, especially when they start chopping into bait near the surface.
You’ll usually find snook around inshore reefs, broken weed beds, rocky points, jetties and sheltered bays. They turn up from shallow wash zones out to deeper reef edges, often along the SA, Vic and Tas coasts where there’s clean water and bait about.
Snook mostly hunt small baitfish and they do it by speed, not brute force. They patrol mid-water and the surface, slashing through schools and smashing anything that looks like a fleeing whitebait, pilchard or hardyhead.
Tide changes are usually better than dead water, because moving water pushes bait along reef edges and pressure points where snook sit and ambush. Low light can fire them up, especially early and late, but they will still eat through the day if the water is clear and bait is active. Light to moderate wind is handy if it creates a bit of surface chop without making the water too dirty, while strong wind can make them hard to find and harder to fish for. Smaller swell or a gentle wash around rocks and reef can help by stirring up bait, but big swell usually makes things messy and shuts down your ability to work lures properly.
A 2–4 kg or 3–5 kg spin outfit is ideal, with small metal slugs, minnows, soft plastics and flies all working well when they’re feeding up top. A short trace of heavier leader helps with their sharp teeth, and gang-hooked pilchard pieces or small whole baits under a float can be deadly when lure fishing is slow.
Snook often hit so fast boatside that they’ll scare the life out of you even when you’re expecting it.